Cold front slowed the crappie

The bite slowed a lot today. And the quality of the crappie was not nearly as good as yesterdays outing. On Hillsdale crappie must be 10″ to keep and the limit is 20 fish. Today I caught more 9″ to 9 7/8″ fish than you can shake a stick at. But I still caught some decent keepers a few 11 and 12 inchers. The violet/green tube still out performed all other colors. Most of the fish just mouthed the jig and when I felt pressure or more weight I would just pick up the jig if the fish pulled back I’d set the hook if not then I knew my jig was into a branch or limb and I got it back out most of the time. Now that I think about it I should have moved out deeper, its kind of funny how hind sight is 20/20.

I did down size the jigs today they just did not want the 1/8th oz jigs today.

You had a tremendous two days fishing dude

Nice looking specks

All the crappies I see are Whites. Do yo get a mixed bag with Blacks also?
Nice couple days out!

Real nice, Richard. Nothing to complain about there at all.

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All the crappies I see are Whites. Do yo get a mixed bag with Blacks also?

Nice couple days out!

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The water at Hillsdale is stained and blacks do best in clear water. I think Melvern Lake has black crappie, but that is 55 miles west of me. I really don’t think that the whites and black co-habitate in very many lakes. Blacks do better in deep clear water lakes and whites do better in shallow stained water lakes. Most farm ponds do however have black crappie. Don’t get me wrong they can live together it is just not too common, they do intermingle and hybridization does occur.

Nice !

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The water at Hillsdale is stained and blacks do best in clear water. I think Melvern Lake has black crappie, but that is 55 miles west of me. I really don’t think that the whites and black co-habitate in very many lakes. Blacks do better in deep clear water lakes and whites do better in shallow stained water lakes. Most farm ponds do however have black crappie. Don’t get me wrong they can live together it is just not too common, they do intermingle and hybridization does occur.

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We see quite a bit of co-mingling of the whites and blacks here in SE Minnesota. I think the whites like more current than the blacks and that may be the difference. Still, we see blacks and whites come thru the same holes in a lot of our waters.

Great job on the crappies. I haven’t been to Kansas to fish crappies for 5 years or better. Does the lake your fishing get good enough ice to get out on??

I’ve heard the crappies are going pretty good around here too. I have been bitten by the bow hunting bug really bad this year and until yesterday I hadn’t been fishing since Oct. 12. I made it out yesterday with a friend and caught 8 walleye, 5 crappies, and 2 channel cats. (I forgot to take the camera. It was fun and has got me thinking that I haven’t been fishing nearly enough. I would have gotten the boat out today if it wasn’t for the 40 MPH wind gusts. I plan on hitting the ice fishing hard this winter. With the price of gas down I think I might even make a few long runs this year. Maybe I’ll even head to Kansas if the ice gets good enough. Do you ice fish Richard?

Ice is kinda ify down here some years we get a week or two and some years none at all. The last two years we got to ice fish. Actually last year we had a couple weeks in December it melted and iced over again in January for a week. I just like fishing it does not matter if I have ice or if I am setting in a boat. The last couple years I have been buying ice gear all I need now is a flasher and more tackle you can never have enough tackle.

Come on down anytime you get the itch.